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Metal By Numbers 10/6: You Might ‘Like’ This Week’s Top Rock Debut

Metal By Numbers is a weekly column in which we look at the top metal sellers and debuts of the week.

While a lot of metal releases came out this past week, the biggest debut not only is a project that isn’t particularly metal or hard rock, but is also a movie soundtrack. Though the movie The Social Network has nothing to do with hard rock (unless you consider Facebook a brutal way to socialize), its soundtrack was composed by Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor and producer pal Atticus Ross. Their soundtrack cracked the top 20 on the charts, making it the biggest selling hard rock-related debut of the week. While I’m sure the reputation of Reznor attracted fans to purchasing the album, I’m also sure that the film’s box office and critical success played a bigger factor.

Notable Debuts:
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Social Network Movie Soundtrack (The Null Corporation) #20, 24,300 sold
Reznor and Ross have also collaborated on another not-really-metal project called How To Destroy Angels. But their self titled EP never ranked as well as the soundtrack has.

Soundgraden, Telephantasm (A&M/UMe) #26, 18,900 sold
We’re not entirely sure if these sales take into account the multiple special editions (including the Guitar Hero bundle) or just the single disc version.

New Medicine, Race You to the Bottom (Atlantic) #100, 4,400 sold
I would imagine that their opening stint on the Uproar Festival is partly behind their very impressive first week.

Halford, Halford IV: Made of Metal (Metal God) #143, 3,100 sold
Rob Halford’s solo project has a very solid first week on the charts. Looks like Ozzfest even helps Metal Gods increase their sales.

James LaBrie, Static Impulse (InsideOut) 1,700 sold
The Dream Theater vocalist’s solo project has a solid first week, though I’m sure he’s glad his other band is continuing on (even without Portnoy).

Enslaved, Axioma Ethica Odini (Nuclear Blast) 1,400 sold
From the looks of their first week sales, fans aren’t calling for Enslaved to quit any time soon, even after Vertebrae, which Chris Colgan claims as “disastrous” in New & Noteworthy.

Powerglove, Saturday Morning Apocalypse (E1) 900 sold
I have to admit that I can’t really ever talk bad about Powerglove. Listen to their cover of the Batman theme and tell me you don’t love them!! I DARE YOU!

Abigail Williams, In the Absence of Light (Candlelight) 850 sold
Abigail Williams experience a solid first week despite the departure of keyboardist Ashley Ellyllon.

Black Anvil, Triumvirate (Relapse) 370 sold
Not a bad first week for the NYC hardcore thrashers, but probably won’t last much longer.

Notable Sales:
Linkin Park,A Thousand Suns (Warner Bros.) #8, 41,600
Still in the top ten despite a 40% decrease. Though I’m sure they won’t be crawling off the charts any time soon.

Disturbed, Asylum (Reprise) #30, 17,000 sold.
In their fifth week on the charts, Disturbed has passed the 300,000 mark.

Avenged Sevenfold,Nightmare (Warner Bros.) #36, 10,000 sold
After ten weeks, the band finally exits the top 50. Still an extremely impressive ten weeks, and you can bet that they’ll be on the charts for a while longer as well.

Stone Sour, Audio Secrecy (Roadrunner) #68, 6,800 sold
Only a 24% decrease in their fourth week, but also has fallen twenty four spots down the chart .

Five Finger Death Punch, War is the Answer (Prospect Park) #84, 5,200 sold
Ten spots down the charts despite the slight increase in sales.

Godsmack, Oracle (Universal) #94, 4,700 sold
Could this be the last week Godsmack is in the top 100? Even if so, they’ll probably remain in the top 200 for another few more weeks.

Iron Maiden,The Final Frontier (UMe) #126, 3,500 sold
Even though the legends only experienced a 15% decrease, they see a massive dip down the charts this week.

Sully Erna,Avalon (Republic) #134, 3,200 sold
A 36% sees the Godsmack frontman fall off the top 100. Told you he wouldn’t outrank Godsmack on the charts again.

Ozzy Osbourne, Scream(Epic) #148, 3,000 sold
Despite falling down the charts by nine spots, the Prince Of Darkness sees another slight increase in sales.

Rob Zombie, Hellbilly Deluxe 2 (Roadrunner, Loud & Proud)#150, 3,000 sold
We’re unsure if these sales count for the Hellbilly Deluxe 2 special edition version that was recently released or the original version. Zombie’s tour with Alice Cooper might have helped either way.

Serj Tankian, Imperfect Harmonies (Reprise/Serjical Strike) #155, 2,900 sold
If you thought that the SOAD frontman’s sophomore album had a but first week, then its second week on the charts will simply scare you. Not only did it experience a 72% decrease, but also fell 120 spots down the charts. Ouucchhh!!

We Came As Romans, To Plant A Seed (Equal Vision) 740 sold
You know, these guys have been on the charts for 47 weeks, continue to sell albums, and I can’t say I’ve heard one song from them. Are they worth checking out (I ask you the reader cause obviously someone is still buying this album)?

Torche, Songs for Singles (Hydra Head) 730 sold
Only a 18% decrease for the sludge stoner’s latest EP.

Death Angel,Relentless Retribution (Nuclear Blast) 700 sold
In my opinion, if the Big Four were expanded to eight, Death Angel’s name should be added. What other thrash legends do you feel shouldn’t be left out?

Blind Guardian,At the Edge of Time (Nuclear Blast) 570 sold
These veteran German metallers will be touring North America for most of the Winter with Holy Grail and Seven Kingdoms.

Iwrestledabearonce, It’s All Happening (Century Media) 500 sold
The guys (and girl) come back after being absent from the charts for over a month. This isn’t the first time they’ve reappeared from the woodworks. This time, though, I’m sure their headlining slot on the Ghostbustour is behind the sales boost.

Terror,Keepers of the Faith (Century Media) 430 sold
Unlike last week, the hardcore boys only experience a slight decrease.

Pierce The Veil, Selfish Machines (Equal Vision) 400 sold
You may not have missed these guys last week, but they’re back with a slight increase in sales.

Chelsea Grin, Desolation Of Eden (Razor & Tie/Artery) 400
Looks like iwrestledabearonce wasn’t the only band that’s getting a boost from the Ghostbustour.

Related Articles

Soundgarden are actually at No.24 with 20k according to Paul Grein’s Chart Watch blog. The anomaly is due to a late reporting retailer’s data that has been added to SS’s data. Not sure if that changes any other positions on the chart.

It’s not just me saying that Vertebrae was a disaster. Most of the reviews of the album I’ve read have called it utterly awful.

Regarding the Big Eight, it should be: Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax, Exodus, Death Angel, Testament, and Overkill. But we’re only counting American bands. If we’re going to do foreign bands too, then call it the Big Twelve and add Kreator, Destruction, Sodom, and Annihilator.

@Chris
And just where are all these awful reviews of Vertebrae? Do a Google search on “Enslaved Vertebrae review” and tell me what you find… 😀
Or have you only read the four or five not-so-good reviews (out of fourteen total reviews) at the Metal Archives? Just curious where all these horrible takes on the album are, for comparison sake…

what

Big 8th ? Like the big 4 and four more not so big? Whtfck? Even then you can’t be serious about “Death Angel” and ” Exodus” in the top 8th

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